Alaska politics are anything if not delicious. In no big surprise, the race for governor will be Big Money versus Big Money. In the corner of Big Oil is Governor Parnell, fresh off the victorious defeat of Ballot Measure 1. In the corner of Big Corporations is Byron Mallot, the co-chair of Senator Lisa Murkowski’s write-in campaign a few years ago. In case you forgot (and it seems many have), Mr. Mallot brushed off support for fellow Southeaster and Democratic party candidate Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams in favor of co-chairing Republican Murkowski’s write-in campaign.

Recently, on Alaska News Nightly, Sen. Mark Begich said he supported the federal budget. He said he was glad to see “Good funding for our military” but was not happy about declining money for veterans benefits. Not a peep about education, healthcare or transportation. It’s comforting to know that Sen. Begich and Alaska Democrats are in the spirit of giving to the poor military industrial complex as Alaska’s number one priority during this Christmas season. You gotta believe it’s what Jesus would do.

I left my village of Kangahun in the eastern part of Sierra Leone 25 years ago after serving two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. Kangahun was accessible primarily on foot on a barely passable road that coursed up and down through the Gori Hills of the Kono District, Sierra Leone’s famed diamond mining district. Even today, published maps either don’t show the village or have it in the wrong place. During my PC service, I reached there by motorcycle, the only one in the area. Drinking water was drawn from a local stream.

There are two propositions on the ballot in the October elections. Proposition 1 is a bond issue tied to future sales tax revenue. Proposition 2 solicits voter approval for a 1 percent sales tax.

In recent legislative sessions, when there was talk of a state sales tax, Republicans balked because, well, it’s a tax. Democrats balked because they say it’s “regressive and should be left to local governments”. (As if a sales tax at the local level is somehow not regressive.)

By borrowing one of Florida’s laws, President Obama is employing his drone and cyber warfare program as part of an ingenious reelection campaign. Since the programs are officially classified, Congress cannot publicly debate them. Yet President Obama is free to leak the programs to the media, letting us only hear what he wants us to hear.

By virtue of my state job, I am a member of the AFSME union, a part of the AFL-CIO. My union was the first to endorse Barack Obama for the presidency in the 2008 election. We endorsed him again in December. The news release reads in part:

“President Obama is the only choice for the 99 percent. We must put people back to work, make the 1 percent pay their fair share, and protect Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. President Obama will stand up for working families,” said AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee.

In a Jan. 31,2012 Juneau Empire “My Turn” column, Deborah Craig states that the GOP feeds us “a steady diet of misinformation and skewed views despite the facts: Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, nor instigate 9/11. The U.S. cannot bomb or invade our way to world respect.” And the Democrats think differently? Democrats don’t care about the war. The war protests mysteriously ended with the Obama inauguration. The wars did not. There was no “change we can believe in.”